Menu

Amy Farrer

Fred Paley is my 2nd cousin 2x removed. His parents are Joseph Paley and Amy Farrer. Our common ancestors are William Paley and Mary Blackey, my 3x great grandparents.

Fred was born in 1893 and his birth is registered in Wetherby in the March quarter.

On 31 March 1918 Fred married Annie Theresa Blamires at St. Columba’s Parish Church in Bradford, West Yorkshire.

I haven’t been able to find any remaining service records for Fred. I do know from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website – http://www.cwgc.org – that he served in the Royal Fusiliers and his regimental number was G/29685.

Fred died of wounds on 27 August 1918 – less than five months after his marriage.

He is buried in Etaples Military Cemetery, France.

Annie remarried in 1927 and lived until the age of 92, passing away in 1981.

The following information is taken from the CWGC website.

During the First World War, the area around Etaples was the scene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals. It was remote from attack, except from aircraft, and accessible by railway from both the northern or the southern battlefields. In 1917, 100,000 troops were camped among the sand dunes and the hospitals, which included eleven general, one stationary, four Red Cross hospitals and a convalescent depot, could deal with 22,000 wounded or sick. In September 1919, ten months after the Armistice, three hospitals and the Q.M.A.A.C convalescent depot remained.

The cemetery contains 10,771 Commonwealth burials of the First World War, the earliest dating from May 1915 – 35 of these burials are unidentified.

Hospitals were again stationed at Etaples during the Second World War and the cemetery was used for burials from January 1940 until the evacuation at the end May 1940. After the war, a number of graves were brought into the cemetery from other French burial grounds. Of the 119 Second World War burials 38 are unidentified.

Etaples Military Cemetery also contains 662 Non Commonwealth burials, mainly German, including 6 unidentified. There are also 5 Non World War service burials here.

The cemetery, the largest Commission cemetery in France, was designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens.